There is none better than a Honey Baked Ham. The H.B. Co. opens a store around the holidays at the local Mall.

Thank goodness for the Honey Baked Ham Company. It comes spiral cut and fully cooked. I do warm it in the oven. Mine was actually just delived aabout 20 minutes ago for Easter.

Linda

I ordered mine from Nueske's this year. Honey glazed, spiral cut.

Gina, I pretty much only buy cooked bone-in or boneless hams these days. Some of the other's that are avail. include smoked picnic's that are not necessarily fully cooked. A fresh ham is not smoked or cooked, but cut from the same butt potion of the hog. There is other names given to some of these cuts and processes depending on the region of the country.

Nancy

There's no doubt the HB hams are delicious, ysop, but the price is staggering. I usually just don't worry about the cost of a holiday meal. I want it to be extra-special and will skimp somewhere else to make up for it. But I somehow just can't wrap my mind around paying $75 instead of $15-$20. :(

Gina, I'm surely no expert -- but maybe that doesn't matter so much because the experts seem to disagree. lol Conventional wisdom is that you should buy the shank portion, especially if preparing for a company dinner. It's easier to slice and supposedly has more meat and less gristle. But some people swear the butt portion is lots more flavorful, makes better soup, etc. I've always bought a shank but had considered trying a butt this time. When I started reading up on it, though, that 'gristle' thing really turned me off. Guess I'm sticking with the tried and true.

I can tell you for sure that you want a bone-in type. There's something about the way they process the meat when the bone is removed that's really detrimental to the texture.

A raw ham would have to be cooked all day and, depending on the size, maybe all night too. So for most people, the choice comes down to fully-cooked or partially-cooked. This may be strictly my imagination, but the ones that are partially-cooked always seem to turn out better for me.

In researching this, I did learn one very interesting thing that I'd never heard before. If the label says "shank half ham" or "butt half ham", you're getting the whole deal. BUT if it says something like "shank portion", a couple of center cuts have been removed. Buyer beware, huh?

sm

Definately bone-in here too.

I did check out the HB store. Although they look really good and have gotten tremendous reviews, I can't see spending the money when all the grocery stores are having sales. SM thank you for all your help. It will be easier now when I go into the sea of hams tomorrow! For many years I bought strickly boneless 97% fat free hams a.k.a. no taste hams. One Christmas I bought one that needed to be cooked all day long and still wasn't done when we were ready to eat. Sooo I thought I'd check here for all your wisdom! As always you are all ready and willing to help! Thank you! Does anyone or is it just me that thinks Easter is too early this year! Gina

I also like bone in....and have cooked my share of butt end hams as well as whole hams....when you get a hog and have it butchered and the hams smoked, you have to do SOMETHING with the butt.
Yes, the shank is easier to carve.
I prefer uncooked ham....and you sure don't have to cook it all day....a big one will be done in 3 hours or so at 325....depending how big is BIG! LOL!
And I think they taste better by far!
I also have placed the ham, cut side up in a dish in the refrigerator and poured honey over it....let it sink in and added more, repeat...
It's sweet but delicious!
So.....the consenus...bone in is tastier, shank end easier to carve, I like ready to cook rather than pre cooked....but some don't care, and honey baked are delicious, but expensive.
That said, I think cure 81 is not worth the price and more like lunch meat than =real ham and I say stay away from those ham loaf things!
Linda C

This year we are having Fresh Ham (Prime rib was to high). I get a full fresh ham boned seasoned and tied from the butcher cover with salt pepper and garlic powder pop it in for 4 hours the last hour I add drain sauerkraut..its one of our favorite holiday foods.

I do love the specialty hams--Honey Baked, Ham Sweet Ham, etc. But with the price of them, and the fact that I'm not even hosting Easter dinner (just taking parts of it to DD's house), I opted for a Cook's Spiral sliced ham. We'd had one a month or so ago and it was fine. Not to mention, with our qualifying register receipt, we ended up getting it for about .30/pound ($4 for the ham I bought this morning). I do love when the grocery stores offer you something free for doing what we do anyway--shopping!

I like fully cooked, bone in. All I do is warm with a glaze and the requisite pineapple rings with maraschino cherries and that's fine by me given everything else going on that day.

Personally I have never liked the spiral cuts. May be my inability to cook properly but I find they are too dry.

I love fresh ham but it is really a pork roast and not what is thought of as ham. Sometimes they go on sale here and I buy them then.
I always buy spiral cut hams when I want ham (ditch the packaged glaze) but they do end up dry sometimes if I'm not very careful. I like ham with bourbon sauce.
HHB hams are the very best I have ever had but, I agree, the price! The small ones are what I take for funerals though.

obxgina,
The Honey Baked Hams are also much less salty and the leftover ham and bone make the best Senate Bean Soup. DH and I are both on low-salt diets so this is the only one that works for us.

Honey Baked Ham lovers here too!

Did you know the Honey Baked Ham Company sells ham bones for soup making? Yep they do! I love to buy those.

Sharon, the last time I baked a ham, I pre-soaked it in water for awhile and was delighted at how juicy it turned out.

I always buy a Cook's shank portion ham. I get the extra close trim. I have tried some fancier and more expensive hams over the years, but this one always tastes the best. And I can get a good size one on sale for about $13.00. Jewel has had a coupon for $5.00 off a ham in their ad the past two weeks, so I got my ham for $7.50. I cook it in an oven bag and it comes out fabulous every time.

Gina, when I read this, your comment that Easter seems "too early" this year immediately popped into my head. Thought these little factoids might amuse you...

Nobody alive has ever -- or will ever -- celebrate Easter this early again. The next time it will fall on March 23 is in the year 2160. But believe it or not, it's not the earliest possible date. Mar. 22 is. It last fell on the 22nd in 1818. Won't roll around again until 2285 A.D.
(Info posted by John Derbyshire, the mathematical whiz at NRO.)

So it's definitely not your imagination, gurlfriend! :)

sm